Doctuh

We are so busy modifying our HHRs, I just thought a place to list where the factory part is better than aftermarket would be helpful. Please reply with a link to any similar previous threads on this if I missed them. The one I experienced is the front wheel well liner. Mine was knocked out, and the aftermarket one was made of cardboard, was thin, fit poorly, and tore easily. I threw it away and had it replaced with the factory part which is better in all respects.

843de

As I've been going through getting my '07 repaired after getting clobbered by a drunk driver last month I can assure you that only OEM sheet metal and other parts have been used.

When it comes to body repairs, "pattern" parts are nothing but trouble, either initially or down the road as you found out with your fender liner. Here in NC as in many other states, you have the right to specify OEM parts for body repairs despite whether or not your underwriter might want to spec pattern parts to reduce the cost of the repairs.

Using Chinese parts could have trimmed about $1,000 from the cost of fixing the Paddy-Wagon, but there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to let them even think about using them.

All that being said, I would stray from OEM parts in a few categories.

Sway bar end links - Moog seems to be the best choice for them.

Brake pads and rotors - A matter of personal choice, but any premium/heavy duty parts are better than OEM.

Tires - The OEM tires on the HHR are terrible....anything is better than the Firestones/Michelins inflicted upon us.

Just a few from my personal list, but a listing of what works best is a great idea Doctuh, and I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions.

SS fan

Especially the Michelin on the SS. Got stg1 drove straight to discount tire, did not pass Go.Did not collect 200.00

I use the factory air filter.

hyperv6

This is a hard one to pin down as I work in the parts field. We sell aftermarket and GM parts. You could spend a lot of time sorting this one out.

There are some after market parts that are much worse and others that are improved over the factory parts. Thinks like 3800 Intakes that crack from GM are available now from other companies fixed not to break We have one company that their thing is to take troubled OE parts and improve them.

As for tires the SS Michelin Pilots are crap. They have poor traction dry or wet and their wear is only average. There are much better options out there. Eve the reviews on the tire racks web site will back this up.

When it comes to Chinese parts it is a crap shoot. Some are as good and better while others are horrid. I see it daily in the private label parts we have done. The thing is many of the OE parts are now coming from there too.

China is far from the only player in auto parts anymore. Many suspension parts axle gears etc including name brands are from India or elsewhere. Also South America supplies many engine parts like valves. In factvery few engine valves come from anywhere but South America.

The crazy thing too is many parts all come from the same place with just a different package too. This happens more than you think. Many cams are turned by an independent company for many MFG. The only things they do in house are the specialty items.

843de

After hearing the comments on the OEM Michelin tires from the SS guys, I'll have to amend my original post to say that all the factory tires on the HHR are/were junk.

hyperv6

Most OE tires have issues.

1 MFGs don't want to pay anything for them.

2 They are subjected to Mile requirements and drive by noise standards that aftermarket tires are not subjected too.

3 Most not all have to be M/S rated. This really hurts some performance tires.

4 Most tires offed cheap to MFG are low quality or old designs that are behind the new stuff out on the market.

5 Just because it says Pilot or Eagle does not make it a great or poor tire. They have their good new lines and old out dated lines in each. Generally most old ones go to the OE lines.

There are some good tires out there but often they are only on high end performance cars like the ZR1 etc. With cars like this they will pay more for the tires and often the general rules for miles and tractions are out the window. That is why the new Pilots on the Z06 and ZR1 may only last 18,000 miles if you don't spin them. They stick like glue in the dry and are useless for most wet conditions. But they will be worth 4 seconds a lap.

A friend used to be incharge of Firstones account with the OE MFG in Detroit. He filled me in on what goes on behind the scenes. GM got the OE Stones cheap and it is also why the OE Firestones suck.

sdafins

I agree most OE tires are not great. I believe one reason is the desire to install tires with a low drag coefficient to provide better fuel mileage. Though these fuel miser tires are improving, most do not handle well and ride poorly. What I find interesting is they don't last very long either.

07azhhr

Alternators and such are things I prefer to use factory. I had a Prelude and used an Autozone Duralast crap that I had to replace about 3 months later. Then again 1month later. Then 2 weeks later that new one had the pulley fall off right at the exact moment I passed the very Autozone I purchased it from . That time I pulled right into there parking lot and MADE them replace it for me as I stood there and watched.

Brakes I like Centric. Plugs Denso, Ac Delco, and or NGK but for this car I will stick with Ac Delco. Yes I have used GM plugs in Hondas haha.

Grizzly old man

When I was young, my dad was a master mechanic at a Ford dealership. He hated the OE Ford Motorcraft sparkplugs with a passion. He did like AC Delco brand plugs.

After I started driving I was expected to do most of my own up keep on my car.

One fine day I decided a new set of sparkplugs and wires, distributor cap, and points were needed so off I went to the only parts store in town to get some.

They did not have the AC plugs I needed for my 200cui straight six in my Fairlane so I bought what they did have. They were NGK plugs.

My dad knew that they were made in Japan, so he thought they were junk. I put over 50,000 on the car with my ‘cheap jap junk’ plugs in it.

That was far better than the Motorcraft or AC Delco plugs I had used in it before.

I only replaced the NGK’s after 50,000 because I thought they might need it with that many miles on them, not because they were causing misfires or anything. They still looked like new once I washed the carbon and gunk off them.

Also the plug wires I bought were the, new at the time, carbon resistor wires. They were awesome because they knocked almost all the spark plug noise I had always had in my radio out.

07azhhr

NGK's are my most go to plugs. Denso and Ac or equal for me but I keep reading on here that ac delcos are the only ones for the eco's. I would rather not fight with my car and since Ac's are high on my list of choices I will more then likely use them. I did install NGK's on the GF's ION a few 1000 miles ago and I do not see an issue yet so who knows.